Press Releases

The U.S. Department of Education has awarded $12.8 million for 30 teacher training projects through the Transition to Teaching Program. The program supports efforts to recruit mid-career professionals and recent graduates with degrees outside of education and then help these recruits become teachers through alternative certification routes.

Federal partners joined together today for the second annual Bullying Prevention Summit, a two-day event hosted by the U.S. Department of Education in partnership with eight other federal agencies that make up the Federal Partners in Bullying Prevention Steering Committee.

Today, the White House and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the launch of “Digital Promise,” a new national center created by Congress with bipartisan support to advance technologies to transform teaching and learning.

The U.S. Department of Education today named 305 schools as 2011 National Blue Ribbon Schools based on their overall academic excellence or for their success in closing achievement gaps. The Department will honor the entire 256 public and 49 private schools with their National Blue Ribbon School awards at a conference and awards ceremony Nov. 14-15 in Washington, D.C.

The U.S. Department of Education announced today the award of 42 National Professional Development program grants totaling $14.8 million to support professional development activities designed to improve classroom instruction for English Learners (ELs).

More than $180 million in grants were awarded to six states through the Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy Program, which helps states pursue a comprehensive approach to improving literacy outcomes for all children -- birth through grade 12, including limited-English-proficient students and students with disabilities. Thirty-five states applied for the funding.

As part of the U.S. Department of Education’s third annual back-to-school bus tour, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will visit Henderson Middle School in Richmond, Va., on Friday, Sept. 21, to highlight First Lady Michelle Obama’s “
Let’s Move!” campaign that focuses on confronting and ending childhood obesity.